Halleck's New English Literature eBook

His Work.—­Bunyan achieved the distinction
of writing the greatest of all allegories, the Pilgrim’s
Progress. This is the story of Christian’s
journey through this life, the story of meeting Mr.
Worldly Wiseman, of the straight gate and the narrow
path, of the Delectable Mountains of Youth, of the
valley of Humiliation, of the encounter with Apollyon,
of the wares of Vanity Fair, “kept all the year
long,” of my lord Time-server, of Mr. Anything,
of imprisonment in Doubting Castle by Giant Despair,
of the flowery land of Beulah, lying beyond the valley
of the Shadow of Death, through which a deep, cold
river runs, and of the city of All Delight on the other
side. This story still has absorbing interest
for human beings, for the child and the old man, the
learned and the ignorant.

Bunyan wrote many other works, but none of them equals
the Pilgrim’s Progress. His Holy
War is a powerful allegory, which has been called
a prose Paradise Lost. Bunyan also produced
a strong piece of realistic fiction, the Life and
Death of Mr. Badman. This shows the descent
of a soul along the broad road. The story is the
counterpart of his great masterpiece, and ranks second
to it in point of merit.

General Characteristics.—­Since the Pilgrim’s
Progress has been more widely read in England
than any other book except the Bible, it is
well to investigate the secret of Bunyan’s power.

In the first place, his style is simple. In the
second place, rare earnestness is coupled with this
simplicity. He had something to say, which in
his inmost soul he felt to be of supreme importance
for all time. Only a great man can tell such
truths without a flourish of language, or without
straining after effect. At the most critical part
of the journey of the Pilgrims, when they approach
the river of death, note that Bunyan avoids the tendency
to indulge in fine writing, that he is content to
rely on the power of the subject matter, simply presented,
to make us feel the terrible ordeal:—­

“Now I further saw that betwixt
them and the gate was a river; but there was no
bridge to go over, and the river was very deep...
The Pilgrims then, especially Christian, began
to despond in their minds, and looked this way
and that, but no way could be found by them by which
they might escape the river... They then addressed
themselves to the water, and entering, Christian
began to sink... And with that, a great darkness
and horror fell upon Christian, so that he could
not see before him...”

“Now, upon the bank of the river,
on the other side, they saw the two shining men
again, who there waited for them... Now you must
note that the city stood upon a mighty hill; but the
Pilgrims went up that hill with ease, because they
had these two men to lead them up by the arms; they
had likewise left their mortal garments behind them
in the river; for though they went in with them, they
came out without them.”